Aircraft with floor brake shoe and interconnected propeller reversing mechanism



Aug. 23, 1955 HOKE, JR 2,716,009

AIRCRAFT WITH FLOOR BRAKE SHOE AND INTERCONNECTED PROPELLER REVERSING MECHANISM Original Filed May 19, 1952 ZMW m KW 32+ w *3 INVENTOR.

ATTDRN EY United States Patent ()tlice 2,716,009 Patented Aug. 23, 1955 AIRCRAFT WITH FLOOR BRAKE SHOE AND INTERCONNECTED PROPELLER REVERS- lNG NIECHANISM Harry Herbert Hoke, In, Washington, D. C.

Original application May 19, 1952, Serial No. 288,610. Divided and this application May 28, 1954, Serial No. 433,000

3 Claims. (Cl. 244-81) This application is a division of application Serial No. 288,610, filed May 19, 1952, to cover subject matter included in said application but not susceptible of being patented therein.

The object of the invention is to provide a device which may be incorporated as part of the equipment of an aeroplane to be used when landing the latter on the deck of a carrier or other landing floor; to provide a deck brake shoe having incorporated therein means by which the propelling motors of the aeroplane will have their direction of rotation reversed on landing so as to provide an increment of resistance to movement in addition to the friction provided by the shoe; and generally, to provide a device of the kind indicated which is of simple construction and therefore, susceptible of cheap manufacture and sale.

With this object in view, the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a central vertically sectional view through the ground or floor shoe constituting an element of the invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a wiring diagram of the circuits whereby the reversal of rotation of the propellers is effected on landing; and

Figure 4 is an elevational view illustrating generally the use of the brake shoe herein proposed.

When the wing-type of aeroplane is landed, as on the deck of a carrier, equipped, for example, with a friction producing means such as is shown in application Ser. No. 201,264, filed December 18, 1950, the shoe is constructed of two parts consisting of a deck plate 194 and a saddle member 195, the latter being carried by the shank 196 arranged to be projected from the underside of the fuselage of the equipped aeroplane indicated in the drawings at 197. The saddle 195 is channel-shaped with the flanges of the channel grooved to receive the tongues 198 of the deck plate, the latter having an upstanding stop plate 199 at one end and a switch actuating plate 200 at the other end. The deck plate is longer than the saddle so that there may be relative sliding movement between the two, but normally it is kept in such a position with respect to the saddle that the plate 199 abuts the rear end of the saddle. This is accomplished through the instrumentality of tension springs 201 anchored one end to the stop plate and the other ends to posts 202 on the underface of the web of the saddle. Just forward of these posts a switch 203 is carried, this switch being of conventional form and normally springimpelled to open position. If the deck plate be slid with respect to the saddle, however, as will be the case when the plane is landing and the plate engages the deck, the plate 200 will abut and close the switch. When such action is accomplished, the switch is designed to effect the operation of the mechanism for reversing the direction of rotation of the driving motors of the plane, so as to impede, if not stop, the progress of the aircraft. This is accomplished by having a switch 203 control a local circuit which includes a magnet 204 of the long-range type adapted to shift the reversing switch 205 to the second of its two positions, in the first of which is normally held through the instrumentality of a spring 206. The switch circuit, including the magnet 204, is energized from one phase of the three-phase circuit which feeds the propelling motors and the operation of the switch 205 effects interchange of the conductors 207 and 208 so that this phase is changed with respect to the other phases and effects reverse rotation of the motors from that in which they rotate when the reversing switch is in its spring-held position.

In the illustrated embodiment a magnet 204 is shown as operating a reversing switch of an electric circuit, but it is obvious that it may be employed to operate a mechanical reversing mechanism and is therefore, susceptible of incorporation in the equipment of a plane operated by internal combustion motors in which the reversal of direction of rotations is accomplished mechanically.

The invention having been described, what is claimed as new and useful is:

1. In combination with an aircraft having reversible propeller driving units mounted thereon, a landing surface engaging brake shoe carried by the aircraft, means for powering the propeller driving units, and means actuated by said brake shoe for reversing the direction of rotations of the propeller driving units to impart a back pull to the aircraft in addition to that imposed by the friction of the brake shoe on the landing surface.

2. In combination with an aircraft having reversible propeller driving units mounted thereon, a landing surface engaging brake shoe carried by the aircraft, means for powering the propeller driving units, the brake shoe comprising a landing surface engaging plate and a saddle carried by the plane and relatively moveable with respect to the plate, a switch carried by the saddle and actuated to closed position by relative movement of the plate and saddle, and mechanism controlled by said switch for reversing said driving units.

3. In combination with an aircraft having reversible propeller driving units mounted thereon, a landing surface engaging brake shoe carried by the aircraft, means for powering the propeller driving units, the brake shoe comprising a landing surface engaging plate provided with terminally fixed stops and a saddle mounted upon and movable relative to the plate between said stops and yieldingly held against one, a normally open switch carried by the saddle and engageable by the other of said stops to move it to closed position, and mechanism controlled by said switch for reversing said driving units.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,402,065 Martin June 11, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 137,974 Great Britain Jan. 29, 1920 

